Passers-by rescue women from mule deer attack near Preston, Idaho

Two injured in what could have been fatal attack on road between local cornfields-

Although most wild animal attack accounts seem to involve bears, autumn is a time when the behavior of male deer, elk and moose can become problematic.

A resident of Whitney, Idaho, which is just southeast of Preston and near the Utah border, was directly approached and attacked between corn fields on a rural road near her home on Oct. 2. Luckily, passers-by (strangers) in a vehicle ended the attack, but not easily, nor without injury to one of the rescuers.

A friend of ours who was once attacked by a deer and nearly killed, interviewed the woman (Sue Panter of Whitney) was attacked by the mule deer buck in the cornfields near Whitney. She also talked to the man with the truck (Michael Vaughan) who came to her rescue. She didn’t talk with his daughter, Alexis. The man said all three of them could have been killed by this deer. He bled profusely from his antler wounds. His daughter drove the deer off by repeatedly hitting the deer in the head with a hammer.

After leaving the immediate scene of its attack, the deer attacked a man driving a tractor. He protected himself by closing the tractor door. The deer punctured a tire before it left. The strangely enraged buck has never been identified.

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Ralph Maughan

Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University with specialties in natural resource politics, public opinion, interest groups, political parties, voting and elections. Aside from academic publications, he is author or co-author of three hiking/backpacking guides.

Mule deer are dangerous during the rut. I photographed a herd or five or six large bucks during the rut one fall and was impressed with how dangerous they were to each other. One buck lost an eye. The largest got stabbed in the rump so deeply (at least six inches deep) that he had a hard time walking afterward. I saw one get rolled completely over by another buck when it lost its’ footing. Most of them sustained wounds to their faces. The speed at which they could charge each other was incredible. The dominant bucks followed the other’s tracks in the snow like bloodhounds and attempted to gore the smaller bucks after tracking them down. When the bucks approached each other, they would lower their ears, wrinkle their noses, and make a strange threatening sound. They were quick to try to injure another buck if it turned just enough to make itself vulnerable.
I kept my bear spray ready for use, stayed in the trees, and never turned my back on any of them.

This reminds me of a story I heard when I was a kid from someone who lived near Palisades Reservoir on the Idaho/Wyoming border. One fall they had a big bull elk bugling near their house and they went outside to photograph it. The bull didn’t like that and chased him back to his front door, knocking him down once on the way. He was lucky he wasn’t injured but it sure scared the crap out of him.

We used to visit Wallowa Lake as a kid every August. We would feed huge 5 point bucks and even laid next to one once. The does were the only ones to ever kick us. I wouldn’t do it in November during the rut though.

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